3 Simple Ways To Stay Safe Online

In the century where the Internet dominates every facet of our lives, it’s more important than ever to be vigilant online. Horror stories of people being duped out of thousands of pounds hit the headlines daily. While you might think it’s easy not to open that dodgy looking email attachment from a Nigerian prince, in reality, scams are more subtle and easy to fall for. Legitimate looking emails from your bank may appear in your inbox telling you that fraudulent activity has occurred on your account. In a panic you reply. There’s the scam.

Being safe online isn’t as simple as it once was. Hackers are more sophisticated, and even the large corporations are have their systems compromised. How do you stand a chance? Take a look at these three simple ways to ensure that you stay safe online.

Basics

While it sounds simple, you must keep your data, passwords, and information private. Don’t put your passwords on the noticeboard on your fridge because you have trouble remembering them; you need to be more discrete. Opt for passwords that are almost nonsensical and random with alphanumeric characters, the odd @ or $ and opt for a sequence at least twelve characters long. The days of using your pet’s name, mother’s maiden name or favorite football team are long gone.

If you spot a dodgy looking email, no matter how tempting it might be to claim the prize for the lottery that you didn’t even enter, leave it well alone and delete it immediately. Block the sender and get on with your day. These hacking techniques seem obvious, but they are still the most common way of having your data compromised.

Shopping

If you are an avid online shopper, you should keep your data more secure. Your financial details are like gold dust to would-be cybercriminals. Instead of saving your credit card details onto a website that you log onto regularly and having your details stored somewhere out of your control, look into virtual credit cards to enhance your security online. These cards are one-time use only and can be linked to your personal accounts. You don’t need to have them in your house, and they are utilized solely online.

Need To Know

If you share your laptop with anyone, make it a point of business to have separate logins. Even though you may be sharing with people you trust, there may be others that pop onto your laptop once in a while who you may not know. Keeping things separate is best practice and will stand you in good stead. Any private information you have can be stored securely on an online cloud-based server that only you have access to. Don’t keep these files for all to see on your desktop, or loitering on a USB stick in your home, without being password protected.

Staying safe online may seem tricky, but hone the basics, and you should be able to keep your data and information out of the hands of undesirables.